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This discussion paper proposes a framework of four indicators of transformational adaptation – the breadth and depth of change, the intention to achieve transformation, scale and sustainability - and provides a framework to apply these indicators to four types of interventions in agri-food systems., The paper was co-commissioned with Catholic Relief Services.

This case study focuses on Oxfam’s education programme in Viet Nam where Oxfam has worked closely with local partners to improve water and sanitation facilities in schools and to increase children’s understanding of good hygiene habits. Oxfam’s experience in Viet Nam shows that WASH activities can be successful as part of a larger model to improve the learning environment in schools and promote a child-centred approach to teaching methods. This case study is part of a series designed to illustrate how Oxfam GB has been working with partner organisations, schools and communities to integrate water, sanitation and hygiene into education programmes to tackle some of the biggest obstacles that prevent children from going to school.

Drawing on six case studies (Kenya, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, the United States, and Zimbabwe), this paper explores the definitions, debates, and demands related to the concept of care infrastructure., The paper finds the following components of care infrastructure across the case studies: care-supporting physical infrastructure, knowledge production, community networks, national care frameworks and public financing, social protection, and public care services, programs, and regulations. These components of care infrastructure can look different from country to country, based on country-specific factors, including time use related to care, national laws and legal frameworks, and civil society and community mobilization. The existence of different approaches to care infrastructure, even between different stakeholders within countries, highlights the need to consider the local context of any intervention related to care., The paper also examines the responsibilities of different social actors (communities, civil society, the state, and the private sector) to support care infrastructure, with a focus on the role of the state. Across regions there are significant ongoing debates about the responsibilities of the state supporting and investing in care infrastructure and in advancing care as a right or care as a public good.

Digital technologies have the potential to either ameliorate or worsen the dynamics underlying poverty and inequality, depending on how those technologies are designed, developed, deployed, and used, as well as on the degree to which the businesses, and business models behind them, respect the rights of users and workers. This paper recommends changes in corporate and government policies and practices to ensure that the information and communication technology (ICT) industry respects human rights and does not exacerbate poverty and economic inequality across five pillars: access and equity, digital civic space, data use and privacy, automation and the future of work, and governance.

This series of papers resulted from the Whose Economy? seminars, held in Scotland in 2010 – 2011, whose purpose was to provide a space for researchers, representative organisations, policy-makers and people with experience of poverty to come together and explore the causes of poverty and inequality in today’s Scotland. The document includes the following papers: “Whose Economy? An introduction” by Mike Danson and Katherine Trebeck; “Whose Welfare State Now?” by Adrian Sinfield; “The Scottish Economy” by Stephen Boyd; “Desperately Seeking Poverty (Alleviation): towards poverty sensitive budgeting in local government” by John H McKendrick; “Rethinking Good and Bad Jobs in Glasgow” by Chris Warhurst; “Health Inequalities in Scotland: Looking beyond the blame game” by Gerry McCartney and Chik Collins; “Wellbeing, Consumer Culture and the ‘New Poor’” by Sandra Carlisle and Phil Hanlon; “Stigmatising Poverty? The ‘Broken Society’ and reflections on anti-welfarism in the UK today” by Gerry Mooney; “Housing, Class and Regeneration: exploring the ‘new’ inequalities” by Kirsteen Paton; “The Experience of Poverty in an Unequal Society” by Sarah Welford; “To What Extent Does Poverty Explain Scotland’s Poor Health Profile?” by David Walsh; “Community Ownership Through Land Reform? A review of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003” by Tim Braunholtz-Speight; “Can Public Services ‘Protect The Vulnerable’ in the Age of Austerity? Considering the evidence on streetcleaning services in the age of growth” by Annette Hastings; and “Conclusion: Our Economy” by Mike Danson and Katherine Trebeck.

Oxfam's initiative 'Innovations in Care' aims to support development, humanitarian and advocacy practitioners to work more effectively on care issues. Care is understood as a major issue in promoting women's human rights, empowerment and overcoming poverty and inequality. This paper clarifies the main conceptual issues, overlapping terms and debates relevant for local programming and research on 'care in households and communities'. The author explores the increasing prominence of 'care' in international development discourse, including an annex on the historical evolution of the concept, a glossary of terms and extensive references. The second section reviews approaches to bring about change patterns of providing care: the '3Rs' framework to 'recognise, reduce and redistribute' care. The last section unravels debates about measuring care - time use surveys, monetary valuation and recent research on time-and-income poverty.

This paper serves as a background document to help frame discussion at the Food Security Forum in Rome, April 2008. It focuses on policy and institutional reform issues centered on the links between chronic and transitory crises. The first part of the paper provides an overview of trends and future challenges. The second considers effectiveness of the ﾓhumanitarian systemﾔ in addressing food insecurity and whether the current institutional set-up is fit for service. The third part examines links between ﾓchronicﾔ and ﾓtransitoryﾔ food insecurity, and whether current approaches to prevention and response appropriately bridge these two forms of vulnerability. A concluding section highlights key issues, raising questions on gaps in the humanitarian system's analytical capacity, its programmatic practices, and on food security policy more broadly.

In this publication, leading feminist thinkers from Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, share perspectives on why we must move beyond gross domestic product (GDP) as the primary measure of societal progress. Drawing on regional examples, they demonstrate how the GDP-growth obsession is skewing policy-making towards measures that drive austerity, debt, corporate power, and exploitative labour practices, whilst invisibilising unpaid care and domestic work. In a call to action, the authors highlight Indigenous and feminist alternatives that need to be pursued to catalyse a shift towards economies that centre care of people and the planet. Illustrations by Vidushi Yadav and Medhavini Yadav.

Position paper on UNCTAD, on the occasion of its Tenth Conference in Bangkok, February 2000. There is an urgent need for UNCTAD to take a lead in promoting new approaches to development that favour poorer people and countries - in part because of the failures of today's international economic managers. Many governmental organisations still do not put human development at the heart of their policy-making, and place excessive faith in economic liberalisation as the answer to all ills. However, the weakening of the 'Washington consensus' creates opportunities for UNCTAD to influence development thinking. At the same time, the WTO and IMF have lost a measure of legitimacy and credibility, giving UNCTAD the chance to recover a more dynamic institutional as well as intellectual role. This should encompass direct support to developing countries, along with a contribution to the reorientation of powerful global institutions towards the pursuit of sustainable and equitable development.

The world's climate is changing at an unprecedented rate, largely as a consequence of human activity. This paper summarises the predicted impacts of these changes that are of greatest relevance to Oxfam. It focuses on the medium to long-term (25-50 years) dynamics in five key areas: water, food security, health, extreme events and political stability. It explains how the geopolitics of the historic responsibilities and future impacts of climate change are distinctly unequal - those countries with the greatest 'ecological debt' currently stand to suffer least from the consequences of their past activities. Without political action to mitigate and adapt, climate change threatens to widen global inequalities and undermine recent gains in social and economic development.

All over the world, women remain poor in relation to men. This also is true in every member state of the European Union. The persistence of poverty in such a rich region of the world is shocking, even before the impact of recession has been considered.In October 2009, Oxfam and the European Women's Lobby, commissioned research to explore and analyse the hidden impact of the current economic recession on women's poverty in the EU. This was conducted as part of the GenderWorks project on women's poverty and social inclusion in Europe, funded by the European Commission and led by Oxfam. The report documents evidence of: precarious working conditions; increasing discrimination in the labour market with a subsequent shift to informal work; rising levels of poverty; reduced access to services; and rising levels of domestic violence, accompanied by cuts in vital support services. The evidence clearly indicates that the recession is already having a significant negative effect on the lives of women, not only in relation to the labour market, but also, crucially, outside it. However, the impact of the recession on women remains largely invisible and further in-depth analysis is urgently required.

This paper, developed by the Refugee Council in partnership with leading refugee and human rights agencies, attempts to set out a positive, alternative agenda for improving the european asylum sysytem and in doing so provides a starting point for debate. It begins by establishing some key principles and approaches, and goes on to indicate how they might be applied.

This discussion paper contributes to the broader discourse on the nexus between Water, Energy and Food (WEF) in parts of Syria where Oxfam works. It explores the main causes behind the deterioration of the WEF sectors and the impact they have on households across Syria. The paper also focuses on aspects that directly impact and limit Oxfam's work inside Syria, in the delivery and implementation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; Livelihoods; Food Security and Protection interventions. Addressing the WEF Nexus in Syria is key in delivering more effective and sustainable interventions; and helping Syrians restore their lives.

This discussion paper focuses on the commitments that Dutch, German and UK supermarkets made as part of the Behind the Barcodes campaign to conduct human rights impact assessments (HRIAs). To understand whether supermarkets are meaningfully implementing those commitments and to support learning, this paper analyses the HRIAs that supermarkets have published in the past four years and identifies best practice efforts and points of improvement. Oxfam also outlines key recommendations for supermarkets and other food companies to improve HRIA processes to ensure that the rights of people making our food are better protected and respected.

Oxfam America and Prosperity Now have embarked on a comprehensive joint research project to explore the dynamics of women’s paid and unpaid labor in the US, particularly for women of color, who are disproportionately affected by the dual impact of paid work and unpaid care responsibilities. This report adopts an intersectional lens to delve into the disparities in unpaid care and the inequities in the paid labor force. The relationship between paid and unpaid labor reveals significant challenges, with many facing systemic barriers in accessing essential support such as workplace flexibility, equitable pay, and affordable care services. Particularly, the interplay of gender and race/ethnicity in this context spotlights the unique and disproportionate challenges women of color encounter in both paid and unpaid labor., The research focuses on both paid and unpaid labor, shedding light on the often invisible or underappreciated roles women play in the economy. Paid labor is commonly understood and recognized, but unpaid labor, including care work for children and adults, remains largely unseen and unvalued, despite its critical role in the economic and social fabric of our society. This study is rooted in the principles of intersectional feminism and labor economics, recognizing that gender, race, ethnicity, and class are not isolated factors but intersect and interact, influencing the experiences of women in the US labor market., The study seeks to bring visibility to this work and underscore its significance in economic policy. The urgency of the project is highlighted by the recent social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly affected unpaid care work, altering its distribution among men and women as well as across racial and ethnic groups. The paper also brings in the voices of the people who are holding crucial caregiving roles in their communities so readers can hear from individuals directly. The research team collected testimonials from nurse practitioners, nonprofit workers, public school workers, and psychologists, some of whom have had to leave their jobs to keep up with care responsibilities to highlight the lived experience that exists within the data.

This report provides a primer on the performance of electricity utilities in sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting on the current landscape of power sector and utility challenges, the reforms undertaken to address performance failures, opportunities for a “utility of the future” amid the global energy transition, governance frameworks available to assess performance (like the infrastructure regulatory system and World Bank’s Utility Performance and Behavior Today [UPBEAT] platform), and the prospects for changing the political economy of state-owned utilities to significantly improve transparency, accountability, and performance. It provides foundational knowledge on how to use financial statements and economic tools so that nonexperts can assess the financial health of a utility for the purposes of demanding greater accountability. It also provides insights on why energy sector power purchase agreements (PPAs) should be made more transparent for greater public accountability., Further, the primer lays out the need for an enhanced role of civil society in advocating for improved transparency and greater civil participation in the governance of state-owned utilities and how regulation can be of further help. The key takeaway is that state-owned enterprises should be subject to commercial governance arrangements, including mandatory and stringent contracts and exposure to some private capital as well as stakeholder annual general meetings, open to the public, similar to those that occur in the private sector., This report complements three other reports published for Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Each of those reports focuses on understanding the specific governance conditions surrounding their respective national electricity utilities. All these reports together are intended to build the programmatic and campaigning capacity among civil society actors to enable them to engage in improving the governance of electricity utilities. As such, the intended audience for this report is, first, members of civil society, and then policymakers and energy sector practitioners who are concerned about the operations of their national electricity utilities and who are contemplating advocacy and programming to improve their performance.

This report is focused on identifying the ongoing challenges at Eskom, the South African power utility, thus shedding light on democratic processes and human rights considerations. It adopts a feminist lens in its analysis of the electricity crisis, exploring potential feminist approaches to restructuring the existing electricity grid infrastructure. This includes analyzing the integration of the key principles of a Just Transition, as well as an assessment of the role that key stakeholders can play in fostering improvements through a renewed social compacting process that encompasses pro-development, equitable and inclusive plans for plant decommissioning, the protection of worker’s rights, and strategies for up-skilling and reskilling. Additionally, the report delves into Eskom's skill development needs, addressing prevalent talent, cultural, and skill-related issues in a more substantive manner. It also includes a comprehensive analysis of electricity demand and supply forecasting and identifying key factors for achieving a sustainable vision for Eskom. It assesses Eskom’s financial situation, its assets, and operational functionality., The report highlights financial and operational inefficiencies at the utility which have caused an ongoing energy crisis in South Africa's energy sector in recent years. This has resulted in rolling blackouts and power cuts, which have had a negative impact on economic growth. Contributing factors to this crisis at the utility include the lack of ethical leadership and escalating levels of corruption, combined with limited maintenance capabilities and decreased reliability of the power supply. Furthermore, policy uncertainty on realizing a feminist, just and socially inclusive energy transition continues to hamstring decisive action on the part of decision makers because of evident competing interests between the Mineral Resources and Energy and Environment Ministries. Finally the report notes the sectors lack of gender-responsive planning and budgeting frameworks and the negative impacts of coal extraction on local livelihoods., The report includes proposals for a variety of different roles civil society can play in advancing progress on these challenges.

Women and gender-diverse people represent an important constituency in the food value chain. Among all working women globally, about one in three works upstream in the food value chain. These women face increasing barriers to safety, recognition and advancement. Yet very little about their experiences has been documented. In the limited instances where the women who power global supply chains have been put into focus, most have concentrated on the experiences of women workers in the apparel sector., Through desktop research, one-on-one interviews with local organizations, case studies and workshops, this paper provides information and guidance on how investors, who are well-positioned to encourage companies to advance gender equity upstream in company supply chains, can help reshape this narrative and encourage companies to act.

As the group of the world’s largest economies and biggest emitters, G20 countries are central to implementing solutions to the climate emergency. This discussion paper assesses to what extent they are setting climate mitigation targets that are ambitious enough and/or meet their fair share of global emissions reductions consistent with limiting global heating to 1.5°C. It applies three different methodologies to assess their pledges. Despite some differences between these methodologies, the paper finds that the G20 countries – both collectively, and almost all of them individually – are failing to achieve their fair share of ambitious global mitigation required to limit global heating to 1.5°C, regardless of which assessment methodology is applied. Additionally, the assessment shows that the high-income G20 member countries are pledging to do a much smaller fraction of their fair share as compared to the middle-income countries., The G7 countries among the G20, in particular, appear to now be focusing their attention on the increase of ambition of middle-income and low-income countries while not recognising the need to also substantially increase the ambition in their own 2030 pledges. Additionally, the G7 countries continue to fail to recognise the need to commit to individual long-term climate finance to low and middle-income countries, at a scale much higher than what they currently provide, to enable rapid and just transitions to climate-resilient and low-carbon societies powered by renewable energy. This analysis highlights that G20 countries must both urgently, and before COP28 in December 2023, raise the ambition of their pledges for action by 2030, ramp up their provision of international climate finance and increase their international cooperation and support.

This report provides a comprehensive account of the status of the electricity utility in Kenya. In doing so it analyzes the gaps in Kenya’s electricity governance and suggests ways these gaps can be addressed especially through civil society engagement., While Kenya has seen some notable successes in advancing its energy sector - in particular in terms of increasing access to electricity - and has seen numerous efforts at reform intended to improve the functioning of the utility. Nonetheless the utility faces significant challenges that undermine the sector's performance overall. Challenges include: weaknesses in power distribution segments, the politicization of the utility company management, system and large commercial power losses. The resulting financial precarity has meant an inability to provide equitable, affordable and efficient electricity utility services. These challenges are compounded by costly power purchase agreements. Altogether these problems have threatened the financial stability of the power utility company and resulted in huge costs and debts., Civil society has a crucial role to play in providing solutions to these challenges through advocacy, expert advisory and by offering solutions in emerging issues such as the energy transition. There are further opportunities for civil society to actively implement sustainable energy initiatives, develop of informational materials, establishment of networks to support good governance (for instance, linking development partners with local governments), and also developing monitoring tools.

This report, published by Oxfam partner, the Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) examines the Ghana's power sector value chain and its implications for reliable, affordable and clean energy supply. The work outlines the role of the Ghanian government in the electricity sector, and outlines three salient challenges facing the energy sector: 1) The role for gas in Ghana's power sector and the relevance of criticisms regarding oversupply, 2) challenges regarding power transmission and distribution, and 3) the country's readiness for integrating renewables., The report finds that Ghana's power sector is not overly burdened by over-supply, identifies that revenue shortfalls and governance issues lie at the heart of problems in the transmission and distribution sector, and fingers the lack of an enabling environment as a primary blocker to increasing renewable energy penetration.

This research documents the results of the piloting of an innovative technology with a limited-water fortification parboiling method developed by the University of Arkansas with eleven women rice parboiling cooperatives in Burkina Faso. The technology is easily adaptable to the parboiling method currently used in Burkina Faso (with some modifications), reduces water use and cost of fortificants contributing to food and nutritional security—particularly for women and children—and promotes economic empowerment of women in Burkina Faso. The paper also synthesizes two research papers on consumer preferences and willingness to pay for fortified rice products in Burkina Faso., The results suggest that it is technically feasible to produce fortified rice using the limited-water method and brown rice as a feedstock, particularly for iron and zinc, for which the concentration levels were close to the recommended dietary allowance (RDA). From the sensory analysis, although there is nothing particularly wrong with fortified rice, urban and rural consumers preferred conventional and modified parboiled rice; and of all three rice products, consumers were more likely to buy the two rice alternatives rather than fortified rice., The results from the experimental auctions show that most consumers were willing to pay the same price for fortified rice as for the conventional parboiled rice currently available on the market. Results showed that creating awareness on the benefits of fortified rice had a positive impact on consumers’ willingness to pay for it, and this was seen across all income levels. These results highlight the importance of designing an appropriate marketing campaign/awareness-raising to promote the nutritional benefits of fortified rice to increase the consumers’ willingness to pay for it., This study is unique in that, to our knowledge, fortified rice is not available in Burkina Faso, and therefore there is no information about its technical and market feasibility. The results can be used by the government and private and public sector actors to develop strategies for the adoption of fortified rice as another potentially relevant tool to fight malnutrition in Burkina Faso.

This paper discusses an innovative public-private partnership approach to operations and maintenance (O&M) of rural water systems in Kenya. The provision of water in Kenya is mandated to county governments, which tend to play a more prominent role in urban centres, while donors and NGOs take the lead in harder-to-reach or less commercially viable rural settings. Mostly, donor-funded water projects cover only capital expenditure (capex) and not operations and maintenance (O&M), resulting in inadequate maintenance of water infrastructure. After the initial investment, projects are handed over to community volunteers, who often do not have the technical expertise or financial management skills needed to keep them running. In addition, the tariffs collected are not sufficient to cover the O&M costs. The pilot project discussed in this paper demonstrates the value of proactive maintenance of water infrastructure that not only yields significant savings, but also provides better outcomes for communities.

Now in its fifth edition, the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRI) assesses the commitment of 164 countries and regions to fighting inequality. The CRI 2024 offers powerful new evidence on whether governments are acting to reduce inequality through policies on public services, fair taxation and labour rights. It reveals negative trends in the vast majority of countries since 2022. Four in five have cut the share of their budgets going to education, health and/or social protection; four in five have backtracked on progressive taxation; and nine in ten have regressed on labour rights and minimum wages. Nine out of ten countries have backtracked in one or more area, meaning without urgent policy actions to reverse this worrying trend, economic inequality will almost certainly continue to rise in 90% of countries., Despite some progress, the IMF and the World Bank could do far more to prioritize the fight to reduce inequality. This report assesses their actions across the three CRI pillars of public services, taxation and labour rights. It makes recommendations for how the IMF and World Bank should stop promoting policies that increase inequality and instead support those policies that reduce it, as a matter of urgency.

The US Care Policy Scorecard seeks to assess the US care policy environment at the federal level by adapting and implementing the Care Policy Scorecard Framework and Tool in the US context. The US Scorecard looks at 30 federal policy indicators related to both unpaid care and underpaid care work (UUCW). Each policy indicator is measured by an average of 18 assessment criteria with the aim to determine the existence of the policy as well as to evaluate the performance and progress of the policy in relation to its design, implementation, and impact., The US Care Policy Scorecard demonstrates that federal UUCW policies are severely lacking, and the needs of caregivers and care workers are not being met by federal policies. It is women of color and immigrant women who are most harmed by the US’s failure to fully support working families, caregivers, and care workers. This is a result of a history of policymaking rooted in sexism and racism that makes care work invisible and undervalued. The US receives an aggregate score of 43%, meeting less than half of all possible criteria when all care policy indicators in the US Care Policy Scorecard are examined and aggregated., In addition to showcasing how each policy indicator and policy area measured scored, the report includes examples of states that have passed care policies in light of absent or weak federal policies, as well as policy recommendations to strengthen the care policy environment in the US.

This report aims to highlight the humanitarian consequences of the dysfunction at the UN Security Council and humanitarian finance mechanisms. A few powerful states are obstructing peace processes and undermining international laws which should be equally binding for all people. There are 23 protracted crises examined in this report, with case studies on the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria and Ukraine. The growth of humanitarian needs, gaps in humanitarian funding, and the impacts of veto and penholding power are explored., Ahead of the Summit of the Future in 2024, Oxfam urges the UN member states to use this opportunity to take decisive and bold action to rebuild a more equal, inclusive, efficient, and responsive system. This will ensure that they fulfil their roles in reducing and resolving crises to avoid the spiralling humanitarian consequences of protracted conflict.

The world’s progress in overcoming poverty has always been fragile, and it risks going backwards in the face of crises unless we act to tackle the systemic nature of poverty. This means tackling structural injustices, but also power imbalances and the capture of politics, knowledge and narratives., In place of this system of poverty, we need to imagine, collaborate, experiment and convene to find a new system based on justice and regeneration. One of the tightest shackles holding us back from this endeavour is the notion of ‘us’ and ‘them’, which destroys the global solidarity we need.

There is growing consensus among policymakers, institutions and movements that GDP is not fit for purpose as the pre-eminent economic metric. Alternatives are urgently needed to facilitate the transition to a new economic model that supports a radically more equal, kinder, greener and feminist world in the present, while offering redress for historical damage and inequalities., However, despite growing experimentation, most efforts are insufficiently bold and remain mostly on paper, with only a few notable but relatively small-scale and still-developing exceptions., To dismantle GDP, different social movements will need to coalesce around key metrics that prioritise far greater equality, and align with feminist and decolonial values while challenging the systems of power and narratives that are holding GDP in its dominant place. Only in this way are alternatives likely to deliver the economic transformation needed to put people and planet first., Les responsables politiques, les institutions et divers mouvements s’accordent de plus à plus à dire que le produit intérieur brut (PIB), en tant que principal indicateur de la santé économique, n’est pas un outil satisfaisant. Il est urgent de trouver des alternatives pour la transition vers un nouveau modèle économique favorisant un monde radicalement plus égalitaire, bienveillant, vert et féministe et proposant des mesures de réparation des dommages causés par le passé et des inégalités qui en découlent. Toutefois, malgré de nombreuses expériences, la plupart de celles-ci manquent d’ambition et ne sont pas appliquées, à l’exception de rares propositions en cours de développement, notables mais d’envergure relativement restreinte. Pour détrôner le PIB, divers mouvements sociaux devront travailler à la création d’indicateurs clés qui privilégieront l’égalité, intégreront les valeurs féministes et décoloniales et remettront en question les systèmes de pouvoir et les discours qui perpétuent l’utilisation du PIB. C’est la seule manière pour ces alternatives d’entraîner la transformation économique indispensable pour protéger la planète et les êtres humains avant tout.

This paper reviews and synthesizes three research papers that look at gender-responsive budgeting in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania, with the aim of drawing out common themes and lessons learned on what it takes to ensure well-functioning gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) and how it can benefit women small-scale farmers. While Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania are not countries that systematically and efficiently practice GRB, the in-depth look at the challenges and successes of GRB in each of these countries provides some helpful insights. After a brief background section summarizing the history of GRB in each country, this paper outlines the lessons learned in five categories: Setting up government practices, systems, and structures for gender-responsive budgeting; Designing a more gender-responsive budgeting process; Engaging citizens in the budgeting process; Envisioning gender-responsive budgeting outcomes; and Identifying best practices in GRB advocacy by NGOs.

Small-scale farmers produce many globally important products such as rice, cocoa, cotton and vanilla. Poverty is widespread among these farmers, and there is an urgent need to increase their incomes., A living income – what a household needs to afford a decent standard of living for all its members – is a human right. It is increasingly recognized that paying a living income is the responsibility of businesses. Pricing is a vital part part of this, but raising the prices paid to farmers can be complicated, and many companies still treat it with scepticism., This paper presents lessons learned from the piloting of a novel price premium mechanism in Pakistan. The goal of the price intervention, which targeted basmati rice farmers in Punjab province, was to make a meaningful contribution to the incomes of the most vulnerable small-scale farmers, while at the same time identifying appropriate mechanisms to minimize costs to retailers and/or consumers. The pilot indicates that price, in combination with other complementary measures, can effectively contribute to closing the income gap for even the most vulnerable small-scale farmers, but that any mechanism to raise prices must be designed carefully., The intervention was part of the wider GRAISEA programme, which supports farmers and food producers in South-East Asia.